Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier is the nom-de-plume Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris(born in La Chaux-de-Fonds/Switzerland; died 27. August 1965 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin/France) After studying painting and architecture at the local École d'Art, he initially worked for Josef Hofmann in Vienna, where he also made the acquaintance of Adolf Loos. Another important influence came when he was working in Paris in 1909 for over a year in the practice of Auguste Perret, a pioneering exponent of building with reinforced concrete using steel. During this period, he also visited the architect and urban planner Tony Garnier in Lyon. It was not long before Le Corbusier was focusing on modern reinforced concrete architecture. In 1917, he moved to Paris. Since he only had a few architectural commissions at the time, he spent much of his time painting, producing mainly still life's. In 1919, Le Corbusier joined the painter Amédée Ozenfant and the poet Paul Dermée to found the journal "L'Esprit Nouveau", in which he first began using his pseudonym in 1920. In 1922, Le Corbusier produced an urban planning concept for a Ville Contemporaine - a "contemporary city with a population of three million". In 1925, he collaborated with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret on designing a two-storied pavilion for the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The avant-garde architecture of that pavilion was complemented by furnishings of functional design and paintings by Le Corbusier, Ozenfant, Fernand Léger, Jacques Lipchitz and others. By 1927, Le Corbusier was among the leading practitioners of the New Architecture designing the housing for the Weißenhof Settlement in Stuttgart.

Around 1942, he formulated his "Modulor" theory, which was Le Corbusier's term for a system of proportion based on the Golden Mean that he used in his architectural designs, especially in his large-scale urban planning projects. Intended to facilitate architecture on a human scale based on an objective system, the Modular still remains one of the most controversial of Le Corbusier's theoretical approaches to architecture. A copy of Le Corbusier's famous Modular measuring tape has been re-issued by Vitra.

More about 'Le Corbusier' in our blog

..."Le Corbusier by the Sea" at Villa Stenersen, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway Given his normal representation as a relatively stern, humourless, character, his brutalist constructions and his almost dystopian urban planning and transportation concepts, it's hard to image Le Corbusier on the beach... Yet, like us all, a Le Corbusier needed a bit of summertime R'n'R and in Le Corbusier by the Sea Oslo's Nasjonalmuseet document the summers 1926 -1930 which Le Corbusier spent in and around Le Piquey on the Bassin d’Arcachon near Bordeaux...

...The end of design's summer hibernation is traditionally marked by the opening of the Vitra Design Museum's winter exhibition, which for 2015/16 is the fulminate The Bauhaus #itsalldesign Elsewhere September 2015 saw us discuss photographing Le Corbusier with Margret Hoppe, the challenges as young designer in Berlin with Gunnar Søren Petersen, how design can be used for social change with Pepe Heykoop ...

...In addition July 2015 saw us celebrate two of the most important representatives of concrete construction, two completely contrasting representatives of concrete construction: Ulrich Muther und Le Corbusier...

...Whereas Margret Hoppe's work initially concentrated on the interiors of abandoned and disused buildings, her current focus is the buildings of the Swiss modernist architect and urban planner Le Corbusier... Presenting images of the interiors of Le Corbusier's buildings we were instantly taken by the intensity and lightness of the work and the unpretentious manner in which the photos opened up new aspects of the Le Corbusier canon while remaining familiar and accessible...

...Although for many Gray's work will not as familiar as that of Marcel Breuer, Le Corbusier or Mies van der Rohe one should not underestimate the contribution made by Eileen Gray to the development furniture design in the 20th century... Through exchanges and conversation with the likes of Le Corbusier and the leading figures in the Bauhaus movement Eileen Gray not only created some of the true classics of early-20th century design but helped to define the Bauhaus principles of form follows function and less is more...